In this video, Fitz tells how your dedication to your teeth can affect both your body and your life! Enjoy more of these Fit Kicks on the Active Heatlh Network at SportsHeatlhExercise.Org.

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A breath mint is another coffee breath killer, but it will only work in the short-term. Consider it a hold-over until you can round up your toothbrush and paste. Can't get to a mint or the bathroom sink? In a pinch, you can fill your mouth with water and give it a good swish.

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Follow these three tips for buying better makeup brushes to give your beauty routine a boost and help the planet at the same time.

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• Eat right

• Exercise

• Get lots of sleep

• Drink plenty of water

• Brush and floss your teeth

• Stay safe

My kid got a cavity. Just had it filled recently. It cost me a bundle and makes me rethink getting dental insurance. It also makes me rethink what I need to do to ensure my two little guys do the very best they can with their pearly whites.

Of course, they need to brush. If I had it my way, they'd brush after eating, every time they eat. But this is hard since they spend a few hours each week day in school and I can't realistically mandate classroom brushing after snacks and lunch. I can be vigilant at home, though. I can hover like a helicopter over them, judging their respective techniques. Let's face it: Kids left to their own brushing devices will cheat, even if unaware their form is not exactly right.

My boys can floss -- and they do -- but as a team, we can do better. We can also swirl around a little mouthwash. And use this cool pink solution the dentist gave us (well, sold us) that marks the hiding places of food bits. And my favorite: We can cut down on sugary, sticky, sweet treats. We've got them down to a pretty good minimum but there's always room for improvement.

What can you do to treasure your kids' teeth? Visit this American Dental Association site for age-appropriate practices.

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My first grade kid brings home a folder full of completed worksheets every Monday. Some of his work I toss. There is so much of it. And some of it I save. I can't wait to pull out his handwriting samples when he's a teenager.

One crumpled-up piece of paper came home with my seven-year-old yesterday, and I'm definitely throwing it in the "Joey's First Grade" box I have stuffed in a hallway linen closet. It's all about health -- Joey wrote out seven good health habits -- and so that makes it a keeper. Here are Joey's tips for good health:

1. Take a bath
2. Drink water
3. Exercise
4. Get plenty of sleep
5. Eat healthy foods
6. Keep cuts clean
7. Bruch (he meant brush) your teeth

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I tend to think that moderation is the best way to go when it comes to most things, including alcohol consumption. However, I'd be a liar if I said I always followed my own rule. We all overindulge from time to time -- sometimes it can be easy to get carried away when you're having a good time. Despite the resulting hangovers, life goes on and we all have to pay for our overindulging.

If you find yourself in a situation where you've woken up with a raging headache, nausea, red eyes (etc) and don't have the luxury of laying around all day recovering in front of the TV, here are some tips from AOL's All About You on how to look good if you're hungover but still have to go about your daily life.

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Ok, so proper dental hygene is an important thing -- we all know that. But brushing your teeth is not only good for your dental health, but your waistline too! Let me explain:

After each meal, brush your teeth. This isn't just to get the food off of them--it will also keep you from snacking after meals. It's a practice that is especially effective in the nighttime -- brushing your teeth shortly after dinner will keep you from snacking in front of the TV because firstly, food won't taste as good when your mouth is minty fresh, and secondly, you won't want to re-do the whole teeth routine before you hit the sack.

Brushing your teeth can also be invigorating; In fact, when I need a quick pick-me-up, I find that brushing my teeth is often more effective than downing a cup of coffee.

I am officially addicted to brushing my teeth! A few weeks ago I got hold of the new Triumph with SmartGuide toothbrush by Oral-B and have been doing that weird licking the front of my teeth thing since. I've always used plain old no-frills toothbrushes, but just recently got to thinking that it wasn't doing the job. Kind of like cleaning your dinner table with a napkin. It removes the big crumbs on the surface, but doesn't really get all the dinner goo that truly needs to be removed. The Triumph is the equivalent of using a scrubby sponge with soap on that table. It does the job a toothbrush is really supposed to do.

Not only do my teeth feel like I've just visited a dental hygienist every day, but brushing has become a strangely enjoyable challenge. The Triumph comes with a neat SmartGuide wireless monitor (a personal trainer for your teeth). The SmartGuide gives me the goal of brushing for two minutes, and encourages me to spend 30 seconds on each quadrant of my mouth. I'm totally in to this. And when I hit the two minute mark.....the monitor gives me a happy face! Woo-hoo! If I keep going, the monitor will wink at me. Who couldn't use a little wink to start your day, right?

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Once you're an adult you only have the one set of teeth, so it's worthwhile to take care of them for that reason alone, if not for the fact that poor oral hygiene has also been linked to other surprising health problems like heart disease. But brushing your teeth correctly isn't as easy as it seems, and some of us need some help to do it right. Oral-B Triumph to the rescue! It tells you where to brush and for how long, and even warns you if you're pressing too hard. It has 4 cleaning patterns to choose from and personalize, and it syncs up with a handy mirror-mounted LCD screen to keep you constantly in the loop on how you're doing. Expect them in September for about $150 (I guess fanciness like this doesn't come cheap!).

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This is a statistic I can honestly say shocked me: 12% of people don't brush their teeth daily. Eeeeew! And it's not like they only brush once a day or something, which would be bad enough, but they don't even brush every day. Wow!

Now this was a British survey, so I'm hoping we're better than that over here in the U.S. Overall oral health has improved by leaps and bounds over the last 30 years or so, but obviously there is still room for improvement. And your oral health is not an area to be fudging on as it's been linked to heart disease and all kinds of other seemingly unrelated health conditions in recent research.

So brush and floss, people! We all need to, but those 12% especially -- you know who you are...

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Chocolate toothpaste... Ugh, I feel a little nauseated just thinking about it. But not to worry, chocolate flavoring isn't destined for toothpaste, but chocolate extract instead. Arman Sadeghpour, from Tulane University, has found that an extract from cocoa powder may be an effective alternative to fluoride in toothpaste.

The extract is a white powder, and it works by hardening tooth enamel thereby making the teeth better able to resist cavities. More testing is needed before it can be used in humans, but if all goes well in 2-4 years it may be on shelves hidden in your favorite brand of toothpaste.

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Is your breath reaching people before your words? Has a dear friend or family member politely leaned into you to tell you that you have bad breath? The first thing you do is cup your hand to your mouth and blow in it to check your breath. Instead keep a pack of gum in your pocket or purse and pop it into your mouth. Chewing gum after a meal, when you can't brush your teeth, will freshen your breath and the chewing action of the gum mixed with your saliva will clean your teeth.

Two other helpful hints to keep bad breath at large is to lightly brush your tongue after you are finished cleaning your teeth. Your tongue holds a ton of bacteria that can get rather smelly. Drink your daily requirement of water. Water is a cure for practically everything including bad breath. By keeping yourself well hydrated, your bad breath will surely reduce.

In some cases bad breath may be the sign of a local infection in the respiratory tract, chronic sinusitis, postnasal drip, chronic bronchitis, diabetes, gastrointestinal disturbance, liver or kidney ailment. If your dentist determines that your mouth is healthy, you may be referred to your family doctor or a specialist to determine the cause of bad breath.

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Children seem to pick up lice at school no matter what you do to keep them washed and groomed. Lice can be spread by hanging coats, scarves, and caps together or using someone else's comb, brush, etc. They live on the clothing (especially in the seams), travel to the skin once a day for a meal, then back onto the clothing. So even if you properly bath every day, you still can get lice from being exposed to clothing where is is taking refuge. Lice live about 30 days, and the female lays about ten eggs a day. The tiny eggs (nits) are laid at the base of a hair shaft. As the hair grows, the nits are carried upward and can be seen. They look like tiny black or rust-colored spots at, or near, the base of the hair. They can even be found on the chest, beard, and eyelashes.

Here are some natural ways to get rid of lice without putting harsh chemicals on their heads, hair, or bodies. Heat combs and brushes to 151o F. for 5-10 minutes and then soak them for an hour in 2% Lysol solution. Launder clothing and bedding in hot water. Things that you cannot wash like pillows, put in a plastic bag or sack for 10 days. Soak the place on the body for 30 minutes in very warm, soapy, water. Hot vinegar or a 50-50 vinegar/water mixture applied to the scalp will loosen eggs, so they can be vigorously combed out of the hair with a fine-toothed comb. Garlic compresses can be placed on the scalp for 2 hours and then thoroughly comb hair. Mayonnaise smothered on the hair and wrapped in plastic can smother the lice and then you shampoo them out. And don't forget to vacuum carpets frequently and properly dispose of the vacuum bags or dirt from the canister so that the lice and eggs do not get back into the house. Whatever method you use, keep in mind that there is a 14-day cycle for lice and their eggs so you must work intensely for a little over 2 weeks on your body, clothing, and home if you are to have success.

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I remember hearing somewhere that one of the dirtiest and germiest places around is the human mouth. With that in mind, it is absolutely amazing to me that the toothbrush, which gets used to clean that grimy place every morning and every night, doesn't need any more attention than just a quick rinse under running water and a toss into the brush holder.

And really, it doesn't. You can check out this list of tips from the American Dental Association, but it basically says that if you don't share your toothbrush, do allow it to air dry thoroughly, and do replace it every three months, you're doing just fine.

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